


Cheap Umbrella

by alchemicink



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP
Genre: AU, Comfort/Angst, Gen, MY APOLOGIES FOR EVERYTHING, not really romance even though I tagged the pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 17:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2629979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alchemicink/pseuds/alchemicink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a rainy night, Yuto meets someone in need of an umbrella.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cheap Umbrella

**Author's Note:**

> I just wrote this on a whim because it's been rainy today. I'm not even sure why I picked Yuto and Takaki to be the characters for this piece. So sorry for the hasty writing, the not-proofreading, and the vague angst. Especially the angst. I'll definitely post something humorous next time to make up for this. 
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like (or if you see any errors I need to fix. Like I said, I didn't proofread much)

There were choices, Yuto thought, as he stepped into the restaurant. He shook the raindrops off his cheap umbrella and placed it in a box by the door. Already well past dinnertime, the place was almost empty of people. Choices, Yuto thought again and picked the booth by the front window. He bumped his knee on the table leg as he sat down. 

There were more choices, Yuto thought, as he glanced over the menu. Too many choices, not enough time to think. He ordered the house special, not knowing what that contained, and then focused on the world outside the window. 

It had been raining all day. The water collected in puddles along the sidewalk, in the road, in the gutters. The water travelled down the edges of the road like tiny rivers until they fell through the drain into the small ocean below. There were no choices out there. The water didn’t stop, much like the cars passing down the road didn’t stop. Their headlights reflected off the raindrops, making each one glitter like a tiny diamond falling from the sky. Yuto wished he could just scoop up those diamonds and keep their beauty all for himself forever. 

The streetlights cast a pale glow over the whole scene, and on the edge of the shadows, Yuto could see a person sitting alone at the bus stop across the road. He had no umbrella and the stop had no structure to shield waiting passengers from the rain. 

Making a quick decision, Yuto flagged down the waitress, got his food put in a to-go container, and then grabbed his umbrella as he walked out the door. He waited a few seconds for a pause in the traffic before he dashed across the road. The guy was already soaked to the bone, but Yuto held his umbrella over the guy’s head anyway. 

“Are you waiting for the bus?” he asked.

The guy looked up, examining Yuto with his dark eyes, and then he nodded. 

“This line doesn’t run on Sundays,” Yuto explained as he gestured towards the bus schedule in tiny print posted nearby. “There aren’t any buses that’ll stop here tonight.” 

“Oh,” the guy sighed. He didn’t make any move to stand up. 

The rain continued its steady descent. “But there’s another bus stop two blocks away you could take,” Yuto said. Slightly unsure, he paused a moment before continuing. “I could show you how to get there? I’m, uh, Nakajima Yuto by the way.” He wanted to extend his hand out in a friendly gesture, but he had the umbrella in one and his takeout bag in the other.

“Takaki Yuya,” the guy answered. “Thanks for the offer but I’m not really in a hurry to get home.” 

“The other stop has shelter from the rain though,” Yuto added. 

Takaki quietly considered the suggestion and Yuto waited. He was a bit late to offer shelter from the rain and maybe he shouldn’t have even said anything. Yuto could understand the desire to just sit out in the rain sometimes, to let the water soak through your clothes and into your skin, wrapping yourself in a sort of watery protective layer to block out the rest of the world. Again, another choice.

“Okay,” Takaki said. He stood up and water dripped off his shirt sleeves. Yuto stepped closer so that he could hold the umbrella over both of them. He accidentally bumped into Takaki’s shoulder, leaving a wet smudge behind on his arm. 

They walked in silence at first because Yuto didn’t know what to say. The only sounds were the engines of passing cars and the splashing of their shoes through the rain puddles. Yuto glanced down at his feet. He’d picked tennis shoes to wear today and the water had already soaked through the fabric to his socks. The squishy dampness between his toes was unpleasant. Takaki was wearing sturdy-looking boots. Water rolled off of them in clear beads. Takaki’s feet were probably the only dry part of his entire body. Yuto decided in that instant that he liked this Takaki guy, a contradictory mix of practical impracticalities. 

“Do you ever feel as though you want to wash everything away and start over completely?” Takaki asked suddenly. He kept staring straight ahead and didn’t even break his stride. 

_Yes,_ Yuto thought. “Tonight would be a good night for that, I suppose,” he answered, glancing up at the still falling rain illuminated by the streetlights. It showed no signs of stopping any time soon. How long would it be before the clouds ran out of rain to throw down on them?

“I suppose you’re right,” Takaki said. He looked chilled from the cold rain but Yuto didn’t have a jacket to offer him. The only comfort he could provide to this stranger was a listening ear and his cheap umbrella. Takaki seemed to instinctually understand that. “I’ve made some mistakes and I don’t know how to fix them.” He didn’t give any other information. 

Yuto understood. He understood too well actually. He had made mistakes that he couldn’t undo, mistakes that left him alone to wander the streets on this particular night. He had made _a choice._ And it had been the wrong one. 

But this choice, this decision to accompany Takaki to the bus stop, felt right. Maybe because he felt some connection to this stranger. Maybe because they were both just two broken people walking together in the rain. They could share something even if it was only misery and his cheap umbrella. 

There were no other people at the bus stop when they arrived. Yuto could say goodbye and leave Takaki behind, but instead he sat down beside him on the bench. Takaki didn’t seem to mind. The rain continued falling, still glittering like diamonds in the night’s artificial light. But they were diamonds that neither one of them could have. So Yuto chose to keep holding the umbrella over their heads even though this bus stop had shelter from the rain. And after a few minutes, Takaki stretched his hand out and held the umbrella as well, covering Yuto’s warm hand with his cold one. 

There were choices, Yuto thought again, as he listened to the odd silence of the falling rain. So many choices.


End file.
